Sports

BY JOEY WAHLER

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Should the Knicks be fortunate enough to have their choice, two things separate Karl-Anthony Towns from Duke’s Jahlil Okafor: His stroke and his tongue.

Before you perceive that as obscene, keep reading.

The 6’11” freshman has stepped up lately, excusing his one-point clunker in an undressing of West Virginia two games ago. His 25 points in 25 minutes on 9-of-13 shooting in that two-point cuticle biter against Notre Dame saved the Wildcats’ date with unblemished history.

Averaging 10.1 points and 6.6 rebounds overall, in his last 11 games Towns has risen to 14 points and 7.8 boards, discounting that West Virginia anomaly. Solid if unspectacular numbers, but it’s the Piscataway native’s upside that’s spectacular.

Let’s talk about Towns’ stroke. He’s shooting just 2-of-8 from three-point land, rarely venturing outside the paint. Know how many threes Towns made in high school? Try 127 over his last three years.